OPERATION FUNNY

The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival (aka SketchFest) is billed as the largest fest of its kind in the world, which is pretty good for an event that almost didn't happen.

Nine years ago, festival founder Brian Posen, who also performs and teaches at local comedy institutions such as Second City, began organizing a production of the musical "Aztec Human Sacrifice" at the Theater Building. When funding didn't add up, he pulled the plug on "Sacrifice" but corralled 33 sketch comedy groups to perform in rotation for seven weeks.

On Thursday, the fest celebrates its ninth year with more than 150 shows in 10 days. We checked in with Posen, who appears this year with Bri-Ko and the Cupid Players, to see how things were shaping up.

Are you ready for Thursday's kickoff?

Oh, yeah. For some reason, this year feels extremely exciting. I don't know why, but there's a buzz.

What do you think is behind that? Do people just need a good laugh?

We had over 200 submissions from groups from all over the planet, and we have 113 groups that are performing. That's the most we've ever had. But just the level of talent ... there's a great vibe.

So more people are trying to perform at the fest now that it's getting more recognition.

Oh, yeah. For the first three years we really had to work at finding groups because the art form was just starting to explode. In the '80s, stand-up was huge, and in the '90s, it was all improvisation. We went from pursuing other groups to being bombarded. Now we're in a position where we have to turn away 100 groups.

What do you look for when you pick groups for the fest?

We look for a whole mess of things. It's not just about being funny. It's about the flavor of the festival, the night, the time slot. You look for different points of view. We have an all-Asian sketch group and an all-Hispanic sketch group, a black and white team, lesbian.

Are most of the groups repeat offenders, or do you have lots of first-timers?

Both. Every year we get a slew of new and exciting groups, and we also get groups with a following. Last Call Cleveland is coming in for their sixth year, and we have new groups coming in from New York and Miami and L.A.

How should audiences navigate the fest if they don't already know about these groups?

Well, hopefully no matter what theater they walk into they'll be pleased and get their money's worth. That's my job. But the split second they walk into the Theatre Building, we'll have staff greet them to say, "OK, this hour you have these three groups. Let's see what your flavor is. Do you want to see the all-lesbian group? The political group? Do you want to see the boys talk about fraternity stuff?"

Any predictions for sketch topics this year?

Last year, we had a lot of doctor scenes. The year before that we saw a lot of animal scenes, but I have no idea. What's funny in the news now? That's what's gonna get slammed.

Is there a topic you're tired of?

I had a teacher when I was just starting out who said, "Everything's been done. It's a matter of presentation." You can flashback to the old timers doing group-therapy scenes or news-casting reports and if it's done well, it's funny. There's nothing that would make me go, "Oh, God, this scene." Put in puppets and Kabuki theater with a Greek chorus, and it's going to be funny. You're always gonna get the funny out of the puppets.